Of Shostakovich’s initial undertaking – a trilogy on the tragic destinies of Russian women through the ages – only one opera was ever written: the hard-hitting Lady Macbeth of Mtsensk. Although one of the mainsprings of the work, the Shakespearean parallel is here bitterly ironic: unlike Lady Macbeth, Katerina Ismaïlova who, in the remote reaches of rural 19^th century Russia, falls in love with one of her husband’s employees and is finally forced to commit suicide, is less a manipulator than a victim of a violent and patriarchal society.

Krzysztof Warlikowski liberates all the subversive power of this scorching and scandalous work, which marked the early years of the Opéra Bastille.

Orchestre et Chœurs de l’Opéra national de Paris.

A co-production of the Opéra national de Paris, Telmondis and Mezzo
With the support of the Orange Foundation, patron of the Paris Opera's audiovisual broadcasts, and the Centre national du Cinéma et de l'Image Animée.

Director: Stéphane Metge
© Opéra national de Paris – Telmondis – Mezzo - 2019

Picture: © Bernd Uhlig / OnP